Logic and Reason

If the goal of stoicism is tranquility, then the method to reach it is logic and reason. A stoic believes their purpose in life is to be a rational and social being. I interpret this to mean the most primary and important goal of stoicism is logic and reason. Without logic and reason we have little hope of being rational, and risk behaving contrary to our primary goals.

Paramount to being logical and rational is control over your emotions. If you can control negative feelings such as fear, anxiety and anger you’ll likely stop doing stupid or impulsive things that cause long term damage. When we let emotions control our behaviour we get blinded by short term satisfactions and lose sight of our goals.

Logic and reason are effective mechanisms for dealing with lots of things, such as:

Helping accept what appears to be short term pain for long term gain.

Over time you value short term pleasures, such as eating fast food or buying a new car, less and less.

Eventually you gain control over your desires and become much happier.